2030_ The Real Story of What Happens to America - Albert Brooks [38]
So Shen Li wound up creating something that was one of the most successful public-private ventures in modern China. And he, in the process, became one of China’s richest men.
* * *
President Bernstein was in the middle of his morning workout when John Van Dyke walked in. Bernstein was given a look that said, I need you in private. The President asked his trainer to step out. He wiped the sweat off his face and took a swig of water. “What is it, John? Another earthquake?”
“Your mother is in a coma.” The President didn’t say a word for what seemed like a full minute.
“When?”
“A half hour ago.”
“Where is she?”
“They took her to Lady of Mercy.”
Bernstein had a contentious relationship with his mother. He thought she never treated him like an adult, certainly not the adult he was, the most powerful man in the world. Well, not the most powerful anymore, but right up there with the Asian countries. He also blamed his mother for killing his father when she up and left him after fifty years of marriage. His dad got up one morning and found a note. An old-fashioned note, handwritten, in an envelope with his name on it. He had had no idea what it was, not even a clue. When he read that his wife had been unhappy for two decades, it wiped him out. It made him question everything he ever knew. He thought his whole life was a sham and wondered if everybody felt the same way about him.
Bernstein was Speaker of the House at the time and was so busy it made him angry that he had to come and take care of this mess himself. He let his dad come to Washington and got him an apartment, but his father died within the year. The President never forgave his mother, who came to the funeral with a date. She claimed the man just drove her because she was too upset, but Bernstein saw them holding hands.
John Van Dyke knew all about this, so he was not surprised to see his boss basically emotionless.
“I guess I have to visit her,” the President said.
It was odd. He now had to act more distressed than he was, simply because he was president. The President was the griever in chief and if he didn’t look sad that his own mother was in a coma, it would confuse the country. “Set it up, John. Put me through the paces. Let’s leave today. We’ll get there and do what we have to do.”
“I’ve already arranged it, sir. Do you want to look at your statement?”
“No. I know what I said.”
When the President arrived in Chicago, the press was waiting. Betsy didn’t like his mother any more than he did, but when they got off the plane, they both could have been contenders for an Academy Award. She even had tears. The President approached the reporters and said, “We have no further information at this time. My mother is still in a coma and we are rushing to the hospital to be with her.” One reporter actually yelled out, “Were you close, sir?” Bernstein almost laughed. What a ballsy question. This guy deserved an answer.
“Very.”
When the motorcade got to the hospital, there was a slew of press waiting there, too, but they avoided it by going into the garage. They were taken to intensive care, where his mother was obviously being given special treatment. She was all alone in a large room designed for at least fifteen people. The President asked where the other patients were, and he was told they had been moved to other hospitals or different floors so she would be secure. This actually made him upset. He didn’t think people who were in critical condition needed to be moved just so his mother could have all the machines to herself, but of course he said, “Thank you.”
He looked at her face. She had